After
skipping the entire month of March, Enterprise returned
this week with an all new episode. Well, as "all new"
as an episode of Star Trek can be these days.
At the
top of the episode Archer and crew prepare themselves for
an on-coming vessel. Without a warp signature or life sign
readings, the ship almost appears to be some sort of phantom.
Everyone on board is on guard, except for Archer, who keeps
smiling at the oddity of their new guests. Then the alien
ship opens a huge cargo door, and swallows the Enterprise
like it was a bite sized star ship snacker.
Suddenly
Archer isn't smiling. And any hint of amusement is completely
removed from his face when Commander Trip experiences a "crossing"
with one of the non-corporeal aliens. Trip insists they're
friendly explorers, willing to give the crew a truly out of
body experience, but Archer keeps scowling.
Good thing,
too. It turns out the aliens are evil. They're actually combing
space, looking for creatures that they can inhabit.
Exactly
how does the Captain know that ahead of time? There really
was no reason for Archer to suspect that the aliens were hostile.
He thought from square one that the aliens were bad, despite
his crew's judgment. Why can't we have an episode where Daddy
DOESN'T know best? Where his human skepticism and limited
understanding of the galaxy does get in the way.
Not likely.
Reed tries
to convince T'pol that it will do wonders for her complexion.
Well,
thanks to Archer's uncanny ability to sniff out the bad aliens
they begin locking away anyone who becomes an alien zombie
- including zombie Reed, who orders T'Pol to disrobe and mate
with him.
Wait a
second - we never saw the alien enter Reed's body, it happened
"off camera." He must have been faking the whole
thing, hoping that T'Pol would fall for his dumb blond / alien
zombie routine. Boys, write that one down - it almost worked.
Ensign
Mayweather discovers that the catwalk can shield them from
the aliens. And since the ship has been powered down for quite
some time, the remainder of the crew regroups in the catwalk.
Now it's
one thing to steal from other Star Trek shows to create
a plot, but to steal from your own series when it's only the
second season? That's sad. Just last December we watched the
entire crew hide in the catwalk from some space radiation.
And now they're back in the catwalk.
It's hard
to tell if this is a continuity thing, where we'll see the
crew use the catwalk as a safe house on a regular basis. Or
if it happened because the writers couldn't think of anything
else. A little from column A, a little from column B.
In the
end they kick the aliens from their bodies by flooding the
ship with gas, which temporarily "kills" humans.
Don't worry, they're just sleeping. And Dr. Phlox's alien
anatomy made him useless to the body snatchers, so he was
able to save the day and enjoy more stage time this week,
which is always a good thing.
Next week
(speaking of ripping off old Star Treks) we'll enjoy
Enterprise's rendition of a classic Trek film.
That's right; Captain Archer is on trial in a Klingon court,
in a special episode called, "Judgment."
Otherwise
known as Star Trek VI 2: Undiscovered Country Boogaloo.
